My travels + South America holidays | The Guardianhttps://www.theguardian.com/travel/series/my-travels+southamerica
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My travels: Michael Jacobs travels the Andes from top to bottomhttps://www.theguardian.com/travel/2011/sep/23/andes-trail-venezuala-patagonia-ecuador-peru
The author tells of the journey of a lifetime down the Andes, from the tropics of Venezuela to the icy tip of Patagonia<p>The Andes fascinated me long before I got to see them. I had been brought up on the Andean tales of my paternal grandfather, a former railway engineer in Chile and Bolivia. On my mother's side I had ancestors who hailed from the Italian Alps, where so many of the great Andean climbers and adventurers originated. The Andes, as the world's longest continuous mountain range, came to hold the promise of an endless succession of extreme and sublime landscapes.</p><p>Eventually I realised my childhood dream of travelling their whole length, from the tropics down to Tierra del Fuego. A framework to my journey was provided by the exploits of the great Andean adventurers of the past, one of the most influential of whom was the German scientist Alexander von Humboldt. He toured the Andes from Colombia to Peru at the turn of the 19th century, drawing conclusions that would later form the basis of a massive unfinished study of the cosmos. His writings are filled with a constant and infectious sense of wonder.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2011/sep/23/andes-trail-venezuala-patagonia-ecuador-peru">Continue reading...</a>South America holidaysVenezuela holidaysTravelAdventure travelChile holidaysColombia holidaysEcuador holidaysPeru holidaysBolivia holidaysArgentina holidaysPatagonia holidaysFri, 23 Sep 2011 21:45:03 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/travel/2011/sep/23/andes-trail-venezuala-patagonia-ecuador-peruPhotograph: B Holland/Getty Images‘My most memorable walk was into Peru’s Colca Canyon, the deepest in the world. Condors hovered above.’ Photograph: B Holland/Getty ImagesPhotograph: B Holland/Getty Images‘My most memorable walk was into Peru’s Colca Canyon, the deepest in the world. Condors hovered above.’ Photograph: B Holland/Getty ImagesMichael Jacobs2011-09-23T21:45:03ZMy travels: John Gimlette in Guyanahttps://www.theguardian.com/travel/2011/jan/29/guyana-georgetown-south-america-john-gimlette
The travel writer and barrister discovered staying with a local MP was a shortcut to the heart of Guyanese life, from raucous political parties to the pool of a five-star hotel<p>Lorlene was hopelessly generous as a landlady. From the start, she refused to accept any rent, and instead threw a party. Her friends were a mixture of Afro- and Indo-Guyanese, and – like her – were all politicians. When the food appeared – a vast spread of spicy chicken, rice, fried bananas, huge pastries called doubles, stewed channa, fillets of Banga Mary (a local fish), and enormous flagons of punch – they gathered round in a scrum. Soon the glasses were clinking and everyone was holding forth. It was like twiddling the dial of a radio, and getting all the pundits at once.</p><p>I was surprised how simple politics can sound. The AFC (Alliance for Change – which Lorlene represented) people said they'd been excluded from public life for daring to occupy the centre and courting all the races. For some of Lorlene's older Trotskyite friends, it was simpler still. There were no such things as mishaps; life was a series of remarkable conspiracies. One lady solemnly told me that dark, outside forces were responsible for everything here, from floods and pickpocketing to the price of sugar. "Even the AFC," muttered another, "are puppets of the CIA."</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2011/jan/29/guyana-georgetown-south-america-john-gimlette">Continue reading...</a>Guyana holidaysSouth America holidaysTravelSat, 29 Jan 2011 00:05:01 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/travel/2011/jan/29/guyana-georgetown-south-america-john-gimlettePhotograph: John GimletteTaste of the exotic … in Georgetown. Photograph: John GimlettePhotograph: John GimletteTaste of the exotic … in Georgetown. Photograph: John GimletteJohn Gimlette2011-01-29T00:05:01ZMy travels: Sara Wheeler in Chilehttps://www.theguardian.com/travel/2010/jul/10/chiloe-islands-chile-horse-riding
The polar explorer remembers a week of solitary bliss, trekking on horseback around Chile's timeless Chiloé islands<p>]The horse I hired was knackered and nameless, the <em>chicha </em>apple brew knocked me sideways, and I caught scabies in a cheap hotel. But I remember my week in Chiloé as one of the happiest of my life. After the buzz of the South American mainland, I found on these Pacific islands a temperate wilderness of misty pastures, 3,000-year-old alerce forest, and a very particular people who cherish their geographical isolation.</p><p>Two-thirds of the way down Chile's long, rugged coastline, the 40 or so small islands of Chiloé are seldom visited by the mainland population. The archipelago is celebrated for its damp climate and high rainfall (residents of the capital Santiago make jokes about Chilotés having webbed feet). But I was lucky. The sun shone for seven days. One afternoon, on the north coast of Isla Grande de Chiloé, the largest island in the group, the horse and I stopped at Ancud Bay. He stamped his arthritic legs while I watched flocks of oyster catchers and silvery grebe skimming the shallows. On the Patagonian horizon to the east, Andean volcanoes stood flat against an enamelled sky.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2010/jul/10/chiloe-islands-chile-horse-riding">Continue reading...</a>Chile holidaysSouth America holidaysTravelHorse riding holidaysFri, 09 Jul 2010 23:05:03 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/travel/2010/jul/10/chiloe-islands-chile-horse-ridingPhotograph: Daniele Brandimarte/AlamyChile waters ... a small harbour on Chiloé’s Isla Grande. Photograph: Daniele Brandimarte/AlamyPhotograph: Daniele Brandimarte/AlamyChile waters ... a small harbour on Chiloé’s Isla Grande. Photograph: Daniele Brandimarte/AlamySara Wheeler2010-07-09T23:05:03Z